The present invention relates generally to insulin pumps, and more particularly, relates to a method and apparatus for providing a forgotten bolus warning for an insulin pump user.
Various insulin pumps are commercially available. To achieve the best control of diabetes, many diabetics are turning to use of insulin pumps. An insulin pump is a device that periodically dispenses very small amounts of insulin according to a preprogrammed profile set by the user to cover basal insulin needs. Basal insulin takes care of or covers glucose produced by the body (liver) on a continuous basis. When a diabetic person consumes food, the diabetic person needs to estimate the amount of carbohydrate content in the food and program the pump to administer a bolus amount of insulin to cover the carbohydrates in the meal. For example, if known for a particular individual that one unit of insulin covers 10 grams of carbohydrates, and the meal has 100 grams of carbohydrates, at mealtime the individual would program the pump to administer a bolus amount of 10 units of insulin. Because the bolus amount varies per meal and the diabetic person may skip a meal, an insulin pump is not preprogrammed to administer a bolus amount of insulin.
It is quite easy for a diabetic person to fail to program a bolus at mealtime. The failure to program the bolus can be either a lapse of memory or an error, such as not pushing the pump""s button hard enough. If the bolus is not administered, blood sugar levels typically will rise to unhealthy and perhaps dangerous levels. Even if the person feels the high blood sugar effects, by then some harm or risk for diabetic complications have occurred. Usually a diabetic does not sense high blood glucose until it is above 400 mg/dl, whereas the usual target range is 70 mg/dl to 120 mg/dl. While one could take more frequent blood sugar readings with available blood testing equipment, such testing is expensive and painful.
A need exists for a mechanism for providing a forgotten bolus warning for an insulin pump user.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for providing a forgotten bolus warning for an insulin pump user. Other important objects of the present invention are to provide such method and apparatus for providing a forgotten bolus warning for an insulin pump user substantially without negative effect and that overcome many of the disadvantages of prior art arrangements.
In brief, a method and apparatus are provided for providing a forgotten bolus warning for an insulin pump user. User selections for mealtimes are received and stored. A user selection for a warning wait period is received and stored. When a time past a mealtime plus the user selection for the warning wait period is identified, checking for a bolus having been taken is performed. Responsive to no bolus having been taken, the user is alerted with the forgotten bolus warning.
In accordance with features of the invention, the user is alerted with the forgotten bolus warning by an audible, visual, or tactile warning for a programmable period of time. The user selections for mealtimes are received and stored on a daily basis for each day of the week. The user selection for a warning wait period can be received and stored independently for each meal.